Wait ...... that's not red! Is it???

One of my most favorite things to do when I was a child was to color.  Getting a new coloring book was like winning the lottery to me.  I colored everything in order and hoarded my favorite coloring books away from cousins that came over to visit so they wouldn't skip around and color the pages I was excited about coloring when I got to them in the book.  I guess my obsessive coloring book behavior explains my personality even today.  I still love to color/draw/paint/sketch (insert random art word here) today.  I even have my own crayons that I don't even let my own son use.  At my fingertips I have 152 crayons in the most beautiful colors Crayola could create.  Just to read the names of the colors makes me happy - Purple Mountain's Majesty, Wild Strawberry, Sunglow, Inchworm .....

Even though there may be 152 vivid colors to choose from in the box, the wrappers only come in 18 different colors.  Which brings me to the subject of this blog.  The color RED.  How many times when you were coloring as a child did you pick up a crayon you believed to be red and realized instead of coloring the little rabbit's umbrella red you were coloring it magenta?!?!  You began searching around for the one crayon with the shortest name in the box - only three letters - RED.  Like the black crayon, its tip was blunt and rounded and you had to peel the paper back to be able to use it.





I had a very similar experience with the color red yesterday.
I found a couple of 70's era wooden arm

chairs destined for the furniture graveyard.  They had been well loved.  Someone had painted them with black chalkboard paint.  I could still see faint pictures drawn by young hands all over the seat.  Their new life with me however was going to have to be in another form.  (I think I'll pass on chalk dust all over my pants.)  The chairs just seemed to plead with me, "Please paint us red!"  So ... I decided to go with it.  Why not?

I found the perfect shade of red - candy apple.  It was not exactly a simple process.  It took many color samples being held up for me to view at a distance (much to my son's dismay) before I decided on a red that wasn't too orange, too brown, too pink, etc, etc, etc....




With the first swipe of the brush I was doubtful.  It looked fuschia.  Exactly like picking up the wrong crayon!  I kept going.  After all,  I was painting over black so it was going to need a lot of coats .... right???.  After 4 coats I was still not convinced and was growing increasingly frustrated.  The color got even worse when I distressed the corners and edges to reveal some of the black and yellow underneath (I put a coat of yellow on the corners before painting red)  After sanding, I decided to wax them with antiquing wax. If this didn't work, then the next plan was to grab some 40 grit sandpaper and fire up the sander.  They could always be painted white.

I didn't even use soft wax first.  I wanted every groove in the wood to soak up the dark tint of the antiquing wax.  This was either going to be magical or depressing.  I began to rub the wax into the wood like I was moisturizing my legs in the winter time.  Voila!  Definitely magical - the perfect shade of red.  Exactly what I was looking for!

And I hope it is exactly what someone else is looking for.  These chairs will be part of my booth I will have at the Flea Market in Raleigh in September.  (exact date to be announced soon)  I have plenty of refurbished furniture and accessories to begin the transition from summer to fall in your home.  Even if the "perfect shade of red" doesn't fit into your color scheme inside your home, these chairs are affordable enough to greet any trick or treaters or Thanksgiving guests on your porch.  At only $30 each, you will have enough money to buy some mums to put on the seat and some pumpkins to put at their feet.